A Comparative Evaluation of Social Network Analysis Tools: Performance and Community Engagement Perspectives

A Comparative Evaluation of Social Network Analysis Tools: Performance and Community Engagement Perspectives | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article A Comparative Evaluation of Social Network Analysis Tools: Performance and Community Engagement Perspectives Ridwan Amure, Nitin Agarwal This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4790818/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 05 Mar, 2025 Read the published version in Social Network Analysis and Mining → Version 1 posted 11 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Graphs are increasingly used in research, industry, and government. This has led to a wide range of analytical and graph-processing tools. There are various tools and platforms for graph processing. Many network based platforms, tools and storage systems have been presented over time. Each system evaluates its effectiveness and usability in processing graph data using different statistics and criteria. As a result, comparing the various systems' performances becomes challenging. This study benchamark popular network analysis tools— NetworkX, RustworkX, Igraph, EasyGraph, and Graph-tool— by evaluating their performance and extracted community engagement metrics, such as the number of downloads, stars, and forks. We benchmark the library's performance on three open-source datasets, one custom dataset, and twelve network analysis methods. The findings reveal that while NetworkX is highly popular, it exhibits slower performance in most benchmarks compared to Graph-tool and Igraph, which are faster and more efficient despite their lower popularity. The continued popularity of NetworkX may be attributed to factors like well-documented methods and a user-friendly API, though this warrants further investigation. This research provides valuable insights for practitioners, researchers, and developers, helping them make informed decisions when selecting network analysis tools. The study emphasizes the trade-off between user-friendliness and performance, suggesting that the optimal tool choice depends on project-specific requirements. NetworkX Igraph EasyGraph Rustworkx Graph-tool Social Network Analysis Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 05 Mar, 2025 Read the published version in Social Network Analysis and Mining → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 15 Nov, 2024 Reviews received at journal 11 Nov, 2024 Reviews received at journal 25 Oct, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 07 Oct, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 06 Oct, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 05 Oct, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 04 Oct, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 13 Sep, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 09 Aug, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 24 Jul, 2024 First submitted to journal 23 Jul, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4790818","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":341404800,"identity":"9378d476-37a1-4726-be22-dc188178f375","order_by":0,"name":"Ridwan Amure","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAtElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBADOQYG5gYgzUy8FmMGBkYStSQ2EK3FvP3w0828e2zSNxw/2PaBocI6sYGQFpkzaWa3eZ6l5W44k9g8g+FMOmEtEgwJQC0HDuduOJDYzMDYdpgILfzPvwG1/E83OP8QqOUfMVokckC2HEgwuAGypYEoLW/Kbs45kGw48wbQloRj6cZEOCx92403B+zk+c4nH2b4UGMtS1ALKkggTfkoGAWjYBSMAlwAADK0QblX/qWBAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"COSMOS Research Center, UA Little Rock","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ridwan","middleName":"","lastName":"Amure","suffix":""},{"id":341404801,"identity":"35295aea-6cf0-4f42-84f0-6a99da1d3445","order_by":1,"name":"Nitin Agarwal","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"COSMOS Research Center, UA Little Rock","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Nitin","middleName":"","lastName":"Agarwal","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-07-23 18:53:11","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4790818/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4790818/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s13278-025-01409-y","type":"published","date":"2025-03-05T15:56:51+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":78178209,"identity":"0a3061f4-a734-48e1-8d6a-a374f5a195bd","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-03-10 16:07:50","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":7013639,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"NetworkAnalysisToolsEvaluationSNAMJournal.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4790818/v1_covered_de50ab73-76c6-4759-bd99-dd5c41c5a069.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"A Comparative Evaluation of Social Network Analysis Tools: Performance and Community Engagement Perspectives","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"social-network-analysis-and-mining","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"snam","sideBox":"Learn more about [Social Network Analysis and Mining](http://link.springer.com/journal/13278)","snPcode":"13278","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/13278/3","title":"Social Network Analysis and Mining","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"NetworkX, Igraph, EasyGraph, Rustworkx, Graph-tool, Social Network Analysis","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4790818/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4790818/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\nGraphs are increasingly used in research, industry, and government. 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